Memories that Haunt the Present - Siorreya

[kevna]

Siorreya - 7 turns - at Ista Weyr

“Well I can’t take care of her!! Look at her! I wouldn’t know where to start. I’m a dragon rider, not a babysitter.”

She could hear her father’s heated words, no matter how hushed he tried to keep the volume of his deep melodic voice. She openly stared at him, she didn’t know any better. All she knew was how little she knew him.

G’der, that’s what mommy always called him.

The thought flitted through her young mind, fleeting, naive, as she stared at his fiery orange hair that tumbled down his neck. He was wild, feral looking. Panicked.

Unwanted.

The thought came unheeded, but brought tears to her eyes.

Where was mommy again? Why had she left her for a better place?

Her seven year old mind raged with emotions and thoughts, and she turned away, running from the stranger her mother had once called her father. Running from the old woman who was supposedly her granny. The child hadn’t ran far when she ran into something warm and hard. She looked up, tears falling from widened eyes, to see the large blue dragon. He peered down at her for a moment, then slowly brought his long slender face down, level with hers. One large blue eye met her two small ones, and the dragon ever so softly touched his larger than life nose to her body, causing her small frame to fall onto her rear end. She gasped as the shock of impact, but remained still as the dragon slowly lowered his head again so that one eye directly met her eyes.

Suddenly she felt better, looking into those ocean sea eyes, and a sort of wonder came over her. It was short lived. Suddenly she was yanked to her feet by her father, his face suddenly in her's.

“What do you think you are doing?”

His voice was loud. Angry. Good feelings seemed to be fleeting for her.

“You should know be-..” His voice cut out suddenly as he looked toward his bondmate, brow furrowed. For a long time there was just silence, and then in a cool, emotionless voice came the statement she would never forget.

“Well to me she is nothing but an unplanned inconvenience.”

[kevna]

Siorreya - 16 turns - Benden Hold

Sio's Precious Moments

She sat by her grandmother’s side, the gold figurine the size of two fists in her hands, the golden amber hues glinting brilliantly as rays of light played across the surface.

“It is beautiful.”

Her granny puffed out in between laden breaths. Siorreya puffed out her chest, smiling boastfully at her prized possession. Out of the three, it was the most beautiful, the etched hide, and amber hues accenting the ferocity of the glass queen statuette.

“It should be, I spent 3 months last Turn finishing it. I know how much you like the Gold dragons, I bet you haven’t seen anything like this!”

Granny nodded, rocking back in forth in her rocking chair. She tried to verbalize her agreeance, but ended up coughing. Siorreya pulled the glass figure away from the coughing woman, shielding it from any spewing fluids that might accompany the cough. When she realized how serious the cough was, and how long it was lasting, she scrambled from her chair, placed her precious object down, and grabbed a clean-ish rag. She handed it to the woman, and felt a pang of sadness as her granny wiped blood from the corner of her lungs.

She brushed the feeling away, and turned to grab a cup of klah to warm the old woman, but before she could take too many steps, granny grabbed her hand. She was surprised by the fierce grip, and turned back to see her dark gray eyes filled with tears. Siorreya felt the need to pull away, but slowly knelt before the woman who had raised her instead, placing her head in the frail lap. 

"You, Sio, have always been special. You will do great things in this life."

Siorreya closed her eyes, refraining from tears as best she could. She just wanted to bury her face in her lap, have her hair stroked, and relish the moment.

"I have missed you my girl. I do wish I could have kept you with me at the Weyr in Ista."

"But I loved the Glass Hall, it was beautiful, and thrilling, and so enlightening."

"You are a clever girl, I'm glad you learned to do something with those restless hands. I just wish you hadn't had to leave."

"I was glad to leave, it was an adventure." Sio smiled dreamily, remembering her lessons and playing on the beach. 

"I missed you though, I wish you had come to see me more while I worked at the Weyr. Why didn't you visit more? Was it lonely?"

This line of questioning was getting old, and good feelings, these moments, were dangerous. She could not let her guard down, could not let the pain leech in and shadow her. She pulled away and shrugged, a bemused smile playing across her lips. She leaned forward, kissed her forehead, and started to turn away again. 

"I do wish you would not do that."

The low, crackled voice said, and Sio couldn't look back this time. 

"What? I am just going to get you Klah, and then I have been dying to roam the hold a bit, see if I can find a journeyman glass crafter, or find some poor herdbeast to feed."

Anything but stay here and watch you die.

She couldn't add that, but she could leave the room. At least for a while. She had been trained since a young age that everyone leaves at some point. Might as well learn to move on, and have fun while doing it. She felt another pang of guilt as her grandmother called after her; 

"Sio, you cannot avoid your feelings forever!"

Watch me.